<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This paper examines the association of education and family forms based on data of the German microcensus 1996–2012. The investigation shows that highly educated women in western Germany had a higher probability of living in a nonmarital instead of a marital union. With an increase in the share of nonmarital births, the association has reversed. Likewise, the highly educated couples were initially the vanguards of living in nonmarital unions with children, but they are nowadays the least likely to do so. Patterns differ between eastern and western Germany, though.</p></abstract>

This paper examines the association of education and family forms based on data of the German microcensus 1996–2012. The investigation shows that highly educated women in western Germany had a higher probability of living in a nonmarital instead of a marital union. With an increase in the share of nonmarital births, the association has reversed. Likewise, the highly educated couples were initially the vanguards of living in nonmarital unions with children, but they are nowadays the least likely to do so. Patterns differ between eastern and western Germany, though.

From an Alternative to a Precarious Family Form? The Changing Role of Education in Nonmarital Childbearing in Germany

Swiss Journal of Sociology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

This paper examines the association of education and family forms based on data of the German microcensus 1996–2012. The investigation shows that highly...

From an Alternative to a Precarious Family Form? The Changing Role of Education in Nonmarital Childbearing in Germany

Published Online: Dec 19, 2017

Page range: 611 - 638

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/sjs-2017-0030

Keywords
family, nonmarital births, living arrangements, cohabitation, marriage

© 2017 Dirk Konietzka et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

From an Alternative to a Precarious Family Form? The Changing Role of Education in Nonmarital Childbearing in Germany

Published Online: Dec 19, 2017

Page range: 611 - 638

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/sjs-2017-0030

Keywordsfamily, nonmarital births, living arrangements, cohabitation, marriage

© 2017 Dirk Konietzka et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
family, nonmarital births, living arrangements, cohabitation, marriage